Communication systems, and especially wireless communication systems, are becoming more sophisticated, offering consumers improved functionality to communicate with one another. Such increased functionality has been particularly useful in the automotive arena, and vehicles are now being equipped with communication systems with improved audio (voice) wireless communication capabilities. For example, On Star™ is a well-known communication system currently employed in vehicles, and allows vehicle occupants to establish a telephone call with others (such as a service center) by activating a switch.
However, existing communications schemes lack flexibility to tailor group communications and allow users to dynamically move between other subgroup communications. For instance, existing approaches depend heavily on establishing communication from one end of a communication (namely, a service center) and do not provide means for all parties to dynamically change the nature of the communications or the definition of the group. This lack of flexibility may prohibit group users from communicating as freely as they might wish.
A need exists for more flexibility in wireless communications, especially in the automotive environment. For instance, suppose a cellular network establishes a call involving four users within a group. A first participant may during the call propose a solution to a given business problem. Suppose a second user disagrees with this solution, and wishes to consult a third user. Obviously, if the second user expresses his disagreement, his disagreement will be broadcast to the entire group, including the first user whose solution is being criticized. One option would be for the second and third users to mute the existing group call and then establish a separate communication link using different devices to discuss the issue further. This may be undesirable if the users are operating a vehicle or do not want to wish to use multiple communication devices.
In short, while existing group communications have some utility, room for improvement exists to allow communications within the group to be tailored so that subgroup or side bar communications can be had. This disclosure presents several different means for doing this.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved procedure for allowing participants within a group conversation on a wireless communication network, especially in the automotive environment, to at least temporarily break away from the group conversation and hold a side bar conversation.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.